Wrench having nut ejector and springlatched nut-retaining socket



1957 l. CLEAVES 2,811,883

' WRENCH HAVING NUT EJECTOR AND s NG-LATCHED NUT-RETAINING socx Flled Aprll 11 1956 w 7 7 M a. w M M F w 1. i 1 pm @457/2 J a 7 Z q nited States Patent WRENCH HAVING NUT EJECTOR AND SPRING- LATCHED NUT-RETAINING SOCKET Irving Cleaves, Woodland, Calif.

Application April 11, 1956, Serial No. 577,543

4 Claims. (Cl. 81-1241) This invention relates to a hand tool, namely, a nutholding socket wrench, more particularly a wrench embodying a hand grip on a straight tubular shank, a removable article-holding socket on a suitable drive at the other end, a means for holding said socket securely on the drive shank, a means for holding a nut or other object in the socket and an ejector to dislodge and remove said nut or other object from the socket.

In the manufacture or repair of apparatus such as electronic, appliance, automotive and others, it is often necessary to apply or remove nuts and bolts to or from threads which are inconvenient to reach by hand. It is an object of this invention to provide a tool to facilitate work on such apparatus; a socket wrench of novel and improved design to securely hold an article in a socket and carry it to a mounting place, there to tighten such article with the one tool, also to remove an article and carry it to a convenient place for ejection from the socket.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved socket wrench wherein one shank or driver can accommodate several sockets, each having a different nut-size or shaped cavity, including articles of very small size and a means for securely holding a socket on the shank. The inclusion of an ejector is, of course, necessary in a socket wrench of the nut-holding type.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved socket tool relatively inexpensive to manufacture, of strong construction and easy to use. Other advantages will become apparent in the following de-v scription and in the drawings herewith which are a part of this specification.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all views.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a socket wrench embodying the features of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section along the line 22 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of Fig. 2 showing in particular a nut-holding socket, a spring for latching the socket to a handle shank, a nut, and a resilient wire for holding the nut within the socket.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the nut-receiving socket per se, after being rotated 90 degrees clockwise from its Fig. 1 position, but omits the resilient wire so as to show a mounting groove for the wire, and an opening to the nut cavity for receiving a nut-contacting end of said wire.

Fig. 5 is a left-end elevation of Fig. 4, and shows the nut-receiving socket.

Fig. 6 is a right-end elevation of Fig. 4, and shows the shank-receiving socket.

In the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings, the tool designated generally by the numeral 10 includes a tubular shank 11 having a hand grip 12 at one end, the other end being milled or otherwise formed, for a portion of its length, to a square or other noncircularly shaped lug 13 to accommodate a removable nut-holding socket 14, said socket having a correspondingly shaped hole 15 to fit the lug 13; a shoulder 15 between the round part of the shank 11 and the lug 13 acting as a stop for the socket 14.

A longitudinal groove 17 is milled or otherwise formed in the shank 11, the groove beginning at the lower end of said shank and extending upward and outward at a slight angle to a longitudinal axis of the shank 11, for a portion of the length of said groove, and then terminating in a portion parallel to said axis and intermediate the ends of the shank 11. The groove 17 accommodates a wire spring 18 which is formed to have a latch 19 at one end, an outward bend 20 intermediate the ends, and a straight upper part 18, the latter being securely anchored in the parallel part of groove 17, and the lower or latching end of spring 18 being free to move only in a radial direction in the groove 17.

The socket 14 is provided with a laterally drilled hole 21 adjacent the top, said hole being communicative with the bore 15 and receiving the latch 19. It will be seen that when any one of several sockets is applied to the lug 13, it is only necessary to push said socket thereon, the latching end of spring 18 being sprung toward the inner part of groove 17 until said socket abuts the shoulder 16, the latch 19 then springing into the hole 21 thus latching the socket on the shank 11. Thumb or other pressure on the bend 20 will release the socket.

Three successive bores coaxial with shank 11 are provided in the socket 14, the bore 15, which is shaped to correspond with and to mount on the lug 13, an intermediate bore 22 of sufficient length to permit a nut to be run down on a reasonably long stud and to allow communication between the ends of socket 14, and a nut cavity 23. The nut cavity is provided with an elongated opening 26 in one side communicative with the periphery of the socket; a groove 24, milled or otherwise formed, extends from the hole 21 adjacent the top of socket 14 downward and inward at a slight angle to the axis of said socket to the opening 26. A resilient wire 25 is anchored, adjacent the top, in the groove 24 and extends in said groove to the opening 26 Where it enters the cavity 23 by means of a reverse bend 27. When an article is pushed into the cavity 23 the bend 27 is moved radially outward of said cavity against the spring action of the wire 25, such spring action being provided by the intermediate part of said wire, and the article being held frictionally between the bend 27 and the opposite wall of the cavity, as the nut 28, for example, is held in Fig. 3.

A plunger rod 29, shown in rest position in Fig. 2, is provided with an enlarged head 31 which abuts the top of the shank 11, and with a flat head 39 at the lower end, and said rest position said flat head is on an even plane with the lower end of the socket 14. T o eject an article from the cavity, a downward thrust of the tool will, of course, raise the plunger assembly in relation to the rest of the tool, so that a sudden stop of said downward thrust will cause the head 30 to be driven against the article thereby ejecting it from the cavity 23.

The hand grip 12, preferably made of plastic, is provided with a longitudinal bore 32 coaxial with the shank 11 and anchored thereto by means of lateral lugs 33; and the bore 32 is of sufficient depth to allow for the necessary longitudinal movement, above the shank, of the plunger assembly when ejecting an article.

The invention herein described is adaptable to many applications, as an example, the nut-holding sockets may be used with ratchet or angle drives. One shank will accommodate several sockets of difierent sizes or shapes thus reducting the amount of material used and manufacting costs. It is to be noted, however, that the articleholding socket may be made integral with the shank if desired.

The embodiment herein shown includes the essential J features of this tool. Other forms and applications are possible within the field of this invention. It is therefore desired that the patent shall cover all patentable features herein described, reference being bad to the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a tool, a straight tubular shank having a reduced noncircular lug on a lower end on which to mount a removable socket head; a groove in the periphery of said shank extending lengthwise from said lower end of the shank to the intermediate part thereof; a resilient wire latch anchored in said groove adjacent the upper end thereof and extending in said groove to the intermediate part of said lug, the lower end of said wire being free to move only radially in said groove; an outward radial projection on said wire to engage a corresponding radial hole in the removable socket head for the purpose of latching said socket head on the shank, said socket head having three successive bores coaxial with the shank axis,

the first bore fitting slidably on the noncircular lug on the shank, an article-receiving cavity being the third bore and the second or intermediate bore communicating with the first and third bores; an elongated slot in one side of said article-receiving cavity extending outward from said cavity to the periphery of said socket head and a lengthwise groove in said periphery extending from said slot to the upper part of said socket head; a formed resilient wire anchored adjacent the upper part of the groove and extending downward in said groove to the cavity opening, the lower part of said wire being cambered to enter said article-receiving cavity and being free to move only radially therein, for the purpose of hold an article frictionally between said camber and the opposite wall of said cavity; an elongated plunger rod extending through and beyond an axial bore of the shank, said rod having a, flat head on the lower end and an elongated head secured on the opposite end thereof, said rod having restricted longitudinal movement in said shank bore for the purpose of ejecting an article from the cavity; and a hand grip having a central longitudinal bore coaxial with the shank axis, the upper end of the shank being anchored in a first part of said handle bore, a second part of the handle bore loosely accommodating said elongated plunger-rod head, and said second part of the handle bore being intermediate opposite ends of the hand grip.

2. The tool as defined in claim 1, wherein the resilient wire latch has four successive longitudinal parts, the first part being anchored in the shank groove, the second part being springy, the third part being an outward bend, and the fourth part being an outward lateral projection.

3. The tool as defined in claim 1, wherein the lengthwise groove in the socket head and the radial hole in the first bore each communicate with the other.

4. The tool as defined in claim 1, wherein the formed resilient wire has three successive parts, the first part providing the anchor to the upper part of the socket groove, the second part being springy, and the third part constituting said lower part which is cambered to enter the slot in the article-receiving cavity of the socket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,523,022 Larson Jan. 13, 1925 1,620,960 Goetting Mar. 15, 1927 1,626,730 Haynes May 3, 1927 2,264,573 Johnson et a1. Dec. 2, 1941 2,566,673 Nygaard Sept. 4, 1951 2,676,506 Schultz Apr. 27, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 229,489 Great Britain Feb. 26, 1925 

